1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a backpanel printed circuit board connection apparatus for pressed-in compliant or wave soldered P-C board contact connection.
2. History of the Prior Art
In the past, in order to make the fabrication of multiple contact assemblies easier, faster and more efficient, the electrical contacts were first staked into the printed wiring subassembly and thereafter a dielectric or insulating housing member was placed over the top of the fixed connections. While this type of construction enables all of the contacts to be preloaded simultaneously and to exert a desired pressure against the interconnection surface, it suffers from some serious problems not the least of which is the fact that should it be necessary or desirable to remove one or more of the contacts, the contacts are trapped against withdrawal from the printed circuit board inasmuch as each contact is physically constrained behind a shoulder in the connector header as seen most clearly in U.S. Pat. No. 3,671,917. Thus, the dielectric cover must be removed in order to remove one or more pins from the backboard. This is necessarily time and energy consuming as well as difficult and lacking in automaticity. In addition, there is the ever present danger of breakage and/or rupture of the circuit board contact interconnecting printed wiring harnesses.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,293 illustrates a construction aimed at alleviating this problem. However, soldering of contacts to the P-C board is featured and no insertion tool means is incorporated in the combination. No pre-assembly for shipping or handling is possible and P-C board hole versus contact misalignment is not compensated for.
The present invention avoids these and associated problems by providing a connector header open at the top and bottom into which the electrical pin contacts are press fitted and preloaded. Integral camming as well as guide means separate the contacts both on insertion and removal while the elongated, parallel guide members enable the connectors to slide easily into the header permitting the rapid assembly of multiconnections thereafter. Outboard tangs on each contact are slidably receivable behind adjacent parallel guides to retain the contacts in preloaded condition. Individual contacts are simply and easily removable from the top of the connector header or with the header dismounted the contacts may be removed from the bottom thereof. Reinsertion of contacts is easily and simply accomplished through the integral camming ramps permitting repair and replacement of contacts at will.